Elevator shafts occupy a substantial portion of the space available in multi-level buildings. Many multi-level buildings, particularly midrise office buildings and apartment buildings, do not have elevators exclusively for the transportation of freight, furniture, construction materials and the like to upper levels within the building. Absent such dedicated elevators, elevators normally used for passenger service are temporarily converted for the purpose of hauling freight, furniture, etc.
In many cases, such passenger elevators have expensive and sometimes delicate interior wall finishes and also floor coverings which are subject to damage when transporting freight. In this case it is a conventional practice to provide temporary protective materials. Probably the most common method of protecting elevator interiors involves the use of removable fabric pads or mats. These pads typically are hung on wall hooks that are permanently installed around the interior of the elevator cab. These pads, however, are relatively thin to avoid bulk which would prove unwieldy and thus provide only limited protection against impact. They soil easily and are subject to tearing so that the interior elevator surface may still be subject to abrasion, scratching and the like. The parameter hooks required for installation of the pads are unsightly and thus many elevators are not provided with such hooks making the use of pads even more unreliable. Elevators pads, of course, do not provide any protection for the floor of the elevator.
Another possibility resides in the use of plywood panels which are installed around the elevator cab interior. The use of such panels is disadvantageous in that they cannot be easily removed and reinstalled. The installation of such panels is relatively labor intensive and requires the expenditure of time by a skilled workman to accomplish the measuring, cutting and installation of the panels.